You have probably stumbled across PNETLab while hunting for a free EVE-NG alternative. At first glance, it looks almost identical. Same interface style, same topology canvas, even the same .unl file format. Unlimited nodes, no license fee, a built-in lab store. You are probably thinking, "This is too good to be true. What's the catch?"
Turns out, PNETLab is a fork of EVE-NG Community from around 2019. They share DNA, but shared origins don't guarantee shared futures. Since the split, development pace, vendor support, and long-term viability have diverged dramatically.
This guide compares both platforms honestly. What each does well, where each falls short, and which one fits your situation whether you're a solo learner or managing labs for a team. As an official EVE-NG Premium Hosting Partner, CloudMyLab works with EVE-NG daily, but we'll give PNETLab credit where it's earned.
If you already know hosted EVE-NG is your path, you can start a free trial right now.
PNETLab gives you more features for free but comes with trade-offs in support, development activity, and legal clarity that matter more as your needs scale.
| Aspect | PNETLab | EVE-NG Community | EVE-NG Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free | ~$160/year |
| Origin | Fork of EVE-NG CE | Original platform | Original platform |
| Max nodes/lab | Unlimited | 63 | 1,024 |
| Multiuser | Basic (10 accounts) | Limited | Full RBAC |
| Image management | iShare2 (automated) | Manual SFTP | Manual SFTP |
| Active development | Stalled | Active | Active |
| Official support | Community only | Community | Professional |
If you are running labs for a team or evaluating either platform for institutional use, this is where the trade-offs sharpen. CloudMyLab's hosted EVE-NG handles the server, image library, updates, and multiuser access for you, so engineers can focus on configurations instead of infrastructure. Start a free trial if you want to skip the setup entirely.
EVE-NG (Emulated Virtual Environment – Next Generation) is a browser-based network emulator that evolved from the original UNetLab project. It runs real device images using KVM/QEMU, letting you build multi-vendor topologies (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Palo Alto, Fortinet) without physical hardware.
EVE-NG ships in two editions. Community Edition is completely free with no trial period or expiration. It is solid for solo learners but capped at 63 nodes per lab. Professional Edition costs roughly $160 per year and unlocks 1,024 nodes, multiuser role-based access control, and professional support. For a detailed breakdown of what separates the tiers, see our EVE-NG Community vs Professional comparison.
The platform runs on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with regular security and kernel updates. Active development, a growing community, and official vendor relationships make EVE-NG the default recommendation across most networking forums.
PNETLab (Packet Network Emulator Tool Lab) forked from EVE-NG Community around 2019. The value proposition was straightforward: take features locked behind EVE-NG's Professional license, unlimited nodes, hot-linking, Docker integration, multiuser access, and offer them for free.
PNETLab brought genuine innovations. The iShare2 tool automates image discovery and installation, eliminating the manual SFTP workflow that frustrates EVE-NG newcomers. The Lab Store lets you download pre-built topologies (SD-WAN, MPLS L3VPN, Ansible automation labs) and start practicing immediately. The React-based UI introduced curved links, 3D topology views, and resizable icons.
However, the trade-offs are real. Development has slowed significantly, bug fixes and updates are infrequent. EVE-NG's leadership has publicly characterized PNETLab as an unauthorized fork, creating legal ambiguity for organizational use. The user base is contracting while EVE-NG's grows. And the default account cap sits at 10 users.
For solo learners, PNETLab remains functional and capable. For teams and organizations, those trade-offs carry significantly more weight.
Genealogy is straightforward. UNetLab was the open-source ancestor. EVE-NG evolved from it as a commercial product with free and paid tiers. Around 2019, PNETLab forked EVE-NG Community and began adding Professional tier features at no cost.
The split created friction. EVE-NG's CEO has called PNETLab an unauthorized fork built on proprietary code. PNETLab supporters argue the UNetLab BSD license permits forking. While the legal nuance remains unresolved for some, for businesses, this ambiguity is a risk.
What's not debatable is the trajectory since. EVE-NG continued active development, releasing major updates on modern Ubuntu LTS versions, regular security patches, and nurturing a growing community. PNETLab's development has slowed, and forum activity has declined.
When EVE-NG raised Pro pricing from $99 to $160, it inadvertently drove more users to explore PNETLab. But that wave didn't translate into sustained development momentum for the fork.
| Feature | PNETLab | EVE-NG Community | EVE-NG Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nodes per lab | Unlimited | 63 | 1,024 |
| Hot-linking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Docker integration | Native | Limited | Native |
| Multiuser RBAC | Basic (10 users) | No | Full |
| Image management | iShare2 (automated) | Manual SFTP | Manual SFTP |
| Lab sharing | Lab Store | None built-in | Shared folders |
| Packet capture | Browser Wireshark | Local wrapper + SSH | Browser Wireshark |
| UI customization | Curved links, 3D view | Minimal | Moderate |
| Active development | Stalled | Active | Active |
| Price | Free | Free | ~$160/year |
| Your Situation | Best Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo learner, tight budget | EVE-NG Community | Free, safe, actively maintained |
| Need unlimited nodes free | PNETLab | Only free option with no node cap |
| Team or classroom (5+ users) | EVE-NG Pro | RBAC, support, compliance ready |
| Quick lab experiments | PNETLab | Lab Store + iShare2 reduce friction |
| Enterprise POC testing | EVE-NG Pro | Support, legal clarity, vendor backing |
| Long-term investment | EVE-NG | Active development, clear roadmap |
On multiuser capabilities specifically: EVE-NG Pro provides Lab Editor, Lab User, and Administrator roles with granular permissions and resource quotas per user. PNETLab's Learning Center offers basic permissions for up to 10 accounts but lacks the audit logging and resource controls organizations need. For team environments, Pro wins decisively. Use the EVE-NG resource calculator to estimate costs.
PNETLab earned its user base for real reasons. If you are a solo learner studying for CCNA or CCNP on a strict budget and you need more than 63 nodes, PNETLab removes the financial barrier. The Lab Store gives you ready made topologies. iShare2 eliminates the frustration of hunting for images and wrestling with SFTP folder naming conventions.
For CCIE level labs with 20+ routers, PNETLab's unlimited node count matters in ways that EVE-NG Community's cap does not accommodate. When you want to spin up a pre-built SD-WAN or MPLS lab without an hour of setup, the Lab Store workflow is genuinely faster. For learners exploring budget home lab options, PNETLab is a legitimate consideration.
The caveats: Development is stalled. The community is shrinking. There is no official vendor backing. The fork controversy makes organizational use uncomfortable.
If any of those give you pause, or if you are evaluating for a team, EVE-NG addresses each of them.
Whether you choose EVE-NG Community or Pro, you still need a server, hardware, Ubuntu setup, image management, memory tuning, and ongoing maintenance. For a home lab, that is part of the experience. For teams and training programs, it is overhead.
CloudMyLab is an official EVE-NG Premium Hosting Partner. Our hosted EVE-NG is pre-configured and browser based. Simply login and start building. Add users and resources without hardware upgrades. Updates, security patches, and image support are handled for you.
Explore hosted EVE-NG or start a free trial.
Forget the forum debates. Answer this question: What's your primary goal right now?
"I want to pass CCNA/CCNP."
EVE-NG Community. Free, covers exam topologies, active study community.
"I need unlimited nodes for complex labs."
PNETLab if solo and budget constrained. EVE-NG Pro if you can invest $160/year.
"I'm setting up labs for a team or classroom."
EVE-NG Pro. RBAC, resource quotas, support, and legal clarity are non-negotiable for institutional use.
"I want zero infrastructure hassle."
CloudMyLab hosted EVE-NG.
| Career Stage | Recommended | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Student / career changer | EVE-NG Community | Free, safe, widely recommended |
| CCNA candidate | EVE-NG Community | Matches exam scope |
| CCNP/CCIE candidate | EVE-NG Pro or PNETLab | Larger topologies needed |
| Working engineer | EVE-NG Pro | Production testing, support |
| Training manager | EVE-NG Pro (hosted) | Multiuser, scalable, compliant |
Planning your certification path? See network engineer certifications and career paths and the CCNP exam cost breakdown.
PNETLab and EVE-NG share roots, but their trajectories have diverged. PNETLab brought real innovations, iShare2, the Lab Store, unlimited free nodes, that served budget-conscious learners well. But slowing development and the unresolved fork controversy make it harder to recommend as a long term platform, especially for teams.
EVE-NG, whether Community or Pro, offers the active development, growing ecosystem, and official support that justifies building your lab skills around it.
Here's what matters most: Choose the platform that removes barriers to your learning, not one that might create new barriers later.
Ready to build your network lab without the infrastructure overhead? CloudMyLab provides hosted EVE-NG with pre-configured images, enterprise reliability, and official partner support. Explore CloudMyLab solutions.
Development has slowed significantly. PNETLab remains functional, but updates and bug fixes are infrequent compared to EVE-NG's active release cycle. The contributor base has contracted. For users who need regular security patches and feature updates, EVE-NG is the safer choice.
Yes. Both platforms use the .unl lab file format inherited from UNetLab, so most topologies transfer directly. Export your labs from PNETLab, import them into EVE-NG. Device images need separate installation via SFTP. PNETLab specific UI features like curved links won't carry over, but your network configurations will.
Yes, completely free with no trial period or expiration. The main limitations versus Pro are the 63-node cap, limited multiuser support, and no professional support channel. For solo learners, Community handles most scenarios. See our detailed comparison of Community vs Professional editions for the full feature breakdown.
EVE-NG Pro. PNETLab supports up to 10 accounts with basic permissions. EVE-NG Pro provides full RBAC (Lab Editor, Lab User, and Administrator roles) with resource quotas and professional support. For classrooms, training centers, or enterprise teams, Pro's capabilities are substantially more mature.
No. CloudMyLab is an official EVE-NG Premium Hosting Partner and offers hosted EVE-NG (Community and Professional). If you are using PNETLab and considering a switch, CloudMyLab's hosted EVE-NG platform eliminates both migration infrastructure and ongoing server maintenance.
Both platforms use KVM/QEMU and need similar specs. Minimum: 4-core CPU with virtualization support, 8 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD. Recommended for CCNP/CCIE labs: 8+ cores, 32 GB RAM, 200+ GB SSD. If hardware is a constraint, cloud-based lab options let you skip the investment entirely.